Nov 1 1965
From The Space Library
The rendezvous of Geminis VI and VII had been scheduled tentatively for the eighth day of Gemini VII's 14-day endurance flight, revealed Command Pilot Frank Borman (L/Col., USAF) at a news conference held by Gemini VII's prime and backup astronaut crews at MSC. Gemini VII would act as a passive target vehicle, but would expend fuel to circularize its 108-mi.-perigee orbit to 161-mi.-perigee orbit and to maneuver into range of GEMINI VI's radar, if necessary, Borman said there would be no Eva on Gemini VII because the crew would be wearing new lightweight spacesuits unsuitable for work in the vacuum of space; he was unaware of any plans for Eva on Gemini VI. During ten days of the mission, the Gemini VII crew would fly in USAF-issue long-john underwear. Pilot James A. Lovell (Cdr N) said that training for Gemini VII had emphasized stowage reviews because of the serious stowage problems encountered by Astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad, Jr., on their eight-day GEMINI V flight August 19. (Transcript; Hines, Wash, Eve, Star, 11/2/65, A3)
FAA became the first civilian Government agency to recover the entire cost of developing a device produced on Government contract by a private manufacturer and sold to the public. Wilcox Electric Co, paid FAA $142,540-total cost of developing a general aviation transponder that would identify airplanes for air traffic control purposes-in conformance with. FAA policy that "where the national interest requires government action in the form of Federal expenditures, those expenditures which do not accrue to the benefit of the public at large should be recovered to the maximum extent possible." (FAA Release 65-104)
DOD had warned that contracts for the USN version of the F-111 aircraft would be canceled if contractors and involved parties did not resolve arguments and furnish sufficient reliable performance data to warrant production, reported, George C. Wilson in Aviation Week and Space Technology. General Dynamics was the prime contractor; Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. was building and refining most of the USN version; and Hughes Aircraft Co. was developing the Phoenix air-to-air missile for the F-111B. (Wilson, Av, Wk, 11/1/65, 16)
In a brief filed with the FCC, ComSatCorp commented on the problem of direct purchase of communications services: "... Comsat believes that as a general rule it should afford the other carriers the first opportunity to provide satellite services desired by users other than the U.S. Government and foreign communications entities. However, in the event that the other carriers, owning and operating non-satellite facilities in which they have substantial investments, do not provide a satellite service to any customer who desires such service, Comsat should be able to provide such service directly to that customer..." (Text)
By a 45%-to-42% margin, the American people believed the space program was worth an annual $4-billion expenditure, according to a Harris poll. By a 50%-to-38% margin, the public would oppose continuing the program at the present rate of expenditure if it were not for Russian exploits in space. (Harris, Wash. Post, 11/1/65, A2)
U.S. aviation's trunkline scheduled passenger mileage was expected to increase two to three times during the next ten years whether fares increased, decreased, or remained at 1964 levels, according to the Civil Aeronautics Board's traffic forecast for the 1965-1975 period. (Text)
U.S. experts believed that Russia might attempt to launch a multimanned spacecraft on a 15-day mission as her next manned space effort, reported William J. Normyle in Aviation Week and Space Technology. Based on recent conversation with Soviet scientists, U.S. specialists felt that there was complete confidence in the Voskhod environmental-control system which had been qualified for 30-day missions, Normyle explained. They also believed that the Soviets were prepared to attempt a rendezvous mission more ambitious than GEMINI VI. (Normyle, Au, Wk., 11/1/65)
President Johnson issued the annual proclamation inviting Americans to observe "Wright Brothers Day, December 17, 1965, with appropriate ceremonies and activities, both to recall the accomplishments of the Wright brothers and to provide a stimulus to aviation in this country and throughout the world." (Pres. Doc, 11/8/65, 448)
Commenting on the Project Surveyor report of Rep. Joseph E. Karth's Subcommittee on NASA Oversight [see Oct. 8], William J. Coughlin said: ". the really amazing thing is that what the Karth report calls the 'stormy 4½-year history' of the project has not been stormier. Given a limited budget to accomplish the impossible, anyone will have difficulties... "The Karth report, in fact, acknowledges this when it states: 'In essence, insufficient preliminary work was done prior to the decision to go ahead with the project, and the award of a contract for development of the Surveyor spacecraft.' " (Coughlin, M&R, 11/1/65, 46)
Reaction to the cancellation of the NASA Gemini VI mission October 25 indicated that the space program and its public acceptance had matured during the first eight years of the space age, wrote Robert Hotz in Aviation Week and Space Technology. He recalled the "abuse heaped on the Vanguard program, the demands for Ranger's cancellation, and the timorous whimpering that tried to suppress the Mercury program and bury the Apollo plans," and suggested that "the lesson we should learn as a nation from our space program is that no task is too difficult to achieve and no challenge too great . , to surmount if its top-level leadership points out the goals and sounds the charge." (Hotz, Av, Wk, 11/1/65, 11)
During week of November 1: Two 16-in, guns welded- together end to end would serve as first stage of a three-stage launch device believed capable by its developers-USA Ballistic Research Laboratories and McGill Univ. Space Research Institute, Montreal-of orbiting a 50-lb, satellite. The gun had launched 185-lb. payloads to approximate 84-mi. altitudes last year. Components of the rocket assembly had been successfully tested separately, but not as a unit; test firing of the first stage would take place in Barbados within four months. Dr. Charles H. Murphy, Ballistic Research Laboratories, and Dr. Gerald V. Bull, McGill Univ. reported on the project at a meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences. (Sullivan, NYT, 11/9/65, 3)
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